


Hot Chocolate

by younqforever



Category: BLACKPINK (Band)
Genre: F/F, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Highschool Flashbacks, Overcoming insecurities, Reunion, college au? kinda, slight domestic violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-28 20:12:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17794001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/younqforever/pseuds/younqforever
Summary: People move away and friendships fade, but with the news of Jennie moving back into town, Jisoo’s dying hope of reuniting with her suddenly sparked. Holding onto the memories they shared and thinking about the connection they had when they were younger was enough to encourage her to press send on the message that had been sitting in the box of Jennie’s text message screen.





	Hot Chocolate

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first time posting a fic...hopefully you enjoy ^^

As hours pass by, the sunset fades away and people start to trickle out of the tiny cafe that sits at the corner of the street. Every few minutes, Jisoo glances at the wooden clock conveniently placed on the wall built parallel from the counter she stands behind every week. While watching the long hand make its way towards the top, she carefully fixes a cup of hot chocolate, not forgetting to add whipped cream, in order to keep herself warm as she is about to face head on with the snow that falls outside. As the long hand creeps onto the big twelve, she gets this horrible feeling in her chest, probably the worry and anxiety that has been building up inside ever since she gained the courage to send the message a few days ago. She has been thinking about this moment for years, constantly daydreaming about how the scenario would play out. The fact that this was actually going to be real very soon, managed to surface many emotions she never knew existed.

As soon as she opened the door, the sound of the cold Seoul wind filled the empty cafe, colliding with the warm air inside. She turns around to wave goodbye to poor Kate, who has to stay until midnight putting everything away and locking up. She feels bad for abandoning Kate since she would usually stay to help after her shifts, but she can’t imagine being late tonight. She has been waiting for this moment ever since everything went cold, which feels like an eternity, but when she thinks about it, it has only been a few years. Stepping onto the small blanket of snow that covers the sidewalk, she watches as it melts from the sudden contact of her boots. She looks up and stares at the snowflakes appearing as they fall into the light coming from the lamppost and then disappearing into the darkness of the sky. She checks her phone to clarify the time, making sure to hold on tight to her hot chocolate, then makes her way towards the next destination.

Taking sips of her drink, enjoying the warmth entering her body, Jisoo thinks about how she never liked it with whipped cream as a child. She remembers complaining about the cream getting onto her nose every time she tried to drink from the mug. The cream sat at the top but would just end up melting before you even got the chance to finish the drink as it was too hot to enjoy quickly without burning your mouth. As it melted and got smaller, it would just float to the opposite side of the mug when you tilted it, which made her angry because she had to, somehow, get the whipped cream into her mouth in a way that required unnecessary effort. All she thought about was sitting down on a cold day and enjoying the warmth and sweetness from her favorite drink without getting stressed about something that could be easily avoided. It wasn’t until Jennie came along, that she truly started to appreciate whipped cream with her hot chocolate.

Approaching the park that sits in the middle of the neighborhood, Jisoo starts to second guess herself. When Jennie agreed to meet with her at 11:30 P.M., she couldn’t help but wonder how she was easily available, almost as if being out late at night was a normal thing for her. Jisoo would describe herself as a night owl as well, but that was mostly because her shifts end an hour before midnight and she can’t forget that she’s still a struggling college student trying to get her life together. She begins to feel regret when she realizes she must be intruding in on Jennie’s life without any explanation besides the simple “let’s catch up” line. The thought of Jennie having to drag herself all the way out to the park on a late and freezing night makes her feel sick. Jisoo walks towards the swing set at the center of the small park, sweeps the snow off of the seat, and then proceeds to sit in agony. She takes a sip from her hot chocolate and focuses on the liquid inviting warmth into her body.

Even though they lived in the same neighborhood and went to the same middle school, Jisoo didn’t meet Jennie until her sophomore year of high school. Jennie may not have known about Jisoo’s existence before this, but Jisoo definitely knew who Jennie was. In Jisoo’s defense, it was kind of hard not to notice her. She was the animated girl in the year before her who everyone loved being around because no matter what the situation was, she always managed to make anyone feel comfortable around her.She’s the kind of girl that wore her personality on her sleeve, not giving a care in the world about what anyone thought of her, even when it backfired. It was also no doubt that Jennie was quite attractive. Jennie’s silky black hair fell down to her shoulders and was always pinned on the left side with long golden bobby pins. She had a petite body, but her cheeks were round, which Jisoo found cute because whenever Jennie laughed, her cheeks would be indented on both sides with deep dimples.When laughing, Jennie’s cat-like shaped eyes would disappear, forming a crescent shape, slighting lifting the tiny mole placed to the left of her small nose. Her lips were a nice shade of pink and although they were thin, they still seemed to be shaped like a heart. From afar, Jisoo admired the glow that radiated from Jennie and soon began to grow infatuated with the girl who passed by her in the courtyard during passing period, wishing she could be as confident as her some day.

Their meeting wasn’t exactly ideal and it’s a memory that Jisoo hates recalling. It was the Friday before spring break and Jisoo lost track of time when she got carried away helping her art teacher paint a banner for an event happening a week after break. The sun was beginning to set and the school grounds were completely empty. A vacant campus was already spooky, but a vacant campus when the sun was setting was even spookier. Jisoo started to speed walk to the front gate but stopped when she heard muffled voices coming from the direction she was heading towards. She couldn’t make out the conversation, but as she got closer, the voices gained clarity.

“I thought those were just rumors?” a voice asked, which she suspected belonged to a middle aged woman.

“They are rumors. It’s not a big deal, okay?”, a familiar voice responded, a voice Jisoo recognized almost instantly.

“This is the second time the school called me because people are spreading rumors about you. Why are you trying so hard to be the center of attention? One day you’ll-”

“I’m not trying to be anything! Why are you turning this on me? Just because I’m not afraid to be myself? While you go around with a facade trying to please everyone around you?” Jennie yelled, her voice gradually gaining volume.

As soon as Jisoo turned the corner, the bodies that the voices belonged to quickly came into view. Suddenly a sound echoed, bouncing off the walls of the empty hallways.  
This was the first time Jisoo had seen anyone get slapped and the sound shocked her so much that she actually gasped, a little too loud.

Within seconds, the attention was on Jisoo. Everything happened so quickly that she couldn’t process what had just been displayed in front of her. The older lady had familiar slanted eyes that were cat-like and a small nose that reminded her of the petite young girl who was standing next her.

The look on Jennie’s face is an image that has been ingrained in Jisoo’s mind ever since then. Her face was partially covered by her hair, golden bobby pins clinging loosely to the strands, but Jisoo could tell that her cheeks were soaked with fresh tears.She was cupping her left cheek with her right hand, which was noticeably shaking, even from where Jisoo was standing. Jisoo’s face started to feel cold at the sight of Jennie, feeling like she could start crying any second. A waterfall of emotions were painted on Jennie’s face, something that Jisoo wishes she never has to see again. Before she knew it, the older lady grabbed Jennie’s arm and dragged her towards the front gate, receiving no resistance from the girl trailing behind her.

Jisoo spent her entire spring break wondering what Jennie was doing, if she was handling everything just fine or if the horror followed her all the way home. Jennie was basically a stranger, yet she felt overwhelmed with sorrow after seeing Jennie in her most vulnerable state. The fact that she saw something she wasn’t supposed to see planted a huge burden on her shoulder, wondering if Jennie would hate her for walking in on the fight and causing her to feel humiliated. As bad as it sounds, she felt kind of special knowing that she, from what she can gather, is the only person to see this side of Jennie. There was never a moment where anyone could recall Jennie being upset or angry at anyone. Everyone just assumed that she grew up with a perfect family considering her personality was so vibrant and so welcoming. Jisoo felt like Jennie was a beautiful painting she could view and admire from afar but could never get close enough to touch, and for some reason, witnessing the argument actually made Jennie seem more real and tangible than ever before.

When the uneventful week-long break ended, Jisoo tried to distract herself by focusing on the banner she had to finish before Friday, spending her lunch time in the art room. She didn’t mind working on the banner alone because that’s how she preferred to go about it anyways. It felt therapeutic being able to paint alone and just the thought of anyone else ruining the banner gave her a headache.

As Jisoo was trying to pry open the lid of a paint bottle, which she managed to dry out by forgetting to wipe the excess paint off before closing it, she heard footsteps just outside the door of the classroom. Considering the art teacher stepped out to use the bathroom, she didn’t think much about who it could have been until she heard her voice.

“Hi, you’re Jisoo, right?” Jennie quietly asked, then quickly apologized when Jisoo let out a small gasp, both from getting scared and from opening the lid of the paint bottle, resulting in purple spots all over her shirt. Thinking about this moment always makes Jisoo smile to this day.

Jisoo fell out of her thoughts when a sudden cold breeze sent her hair flying over her face, sending a shiver down her spine. She took another drink of her hot chocolate and let out a small breath as her body fell victim to the warmth and sweetness. She reached into her coat pocket and took out her phone. When the bright screen lit up and displayed 11:20 P.M. in a big white font, she realized how close her work was to the park because she managed to walk here in under fifteen minutes. She glanced around and wondered if kids still came out here to play like she did when she was younger. She vaguely recalled scraping her knee right next to the slide because she was running away from the “lion” that was chasing her and then faintly smiled at the thought of her mom frantically running over to her, fear painted across her face.

She remembers when she came to this park the spring of 2015, the day Jennie convinced her to ditch school just because she thought the weather was nice out. She wouldn’t consider Jennie a bad influence because it wasn’t like she was pressured into skipping. She actually didn’t mind it all considering both of them weren’t too obsessed with having a perfect attendance, let alone their studies. At this time, Jisoo was set on following her passion as a painter and Jennie had already been admitted into her dream college with a full ride, which resulted in Jennie gaining full respect from her family. After the acceptance letter came in, Jennie’s family, especially her mother, realized that Jennie wasn’t going to let anyone get in the way of her happiness and that she was going to achieve her goals no matter what people had to say about her.

The sun was peeking out from behind the clouds, but the wind was still cold and crisp enough to expose the breath escaping from one’s mouth as they talked. The roads were still damp from the rainfall last night, as well as the sidewalks that had small puddles resting in their small crevices. Jisoo held the door open as they walked out of a cafe, each holding their own small cup of hot chocolate, courtesy of Jennie. Sneakily, Jennie had whipped cream added to Jisoo’s drink despite knowing that she doesn’t like it.

“Just drink it!” Jennie insists, sofly pushing the cup towards Jisoo’s face.

“You know I don’t like it!” 

“But you haven’t had it since you were little, how does that give you a chance to change your mind about the wonder that is whipped cream?”

“Why is this so important to you?”

“Come on, just drink it! It’s not like you’re gonna die or anything!” Jennie exclaimed, followed by the cutest pout Jisoo as ever seen.

“Fine! But I’m only doing this to get you to shut up,” Jisoo said with a firm face, hiding the fact that her cheeks started to feel warm from the sight of a pouting Jennie bouncing on her toes.

Jisoo softly chuckled to herself thinking about how, ever since that happened, she never drank her hot chocolate without whipped cream. It wasn’t that she suddenly loved it, but it was because it reminded her of that exact image. A pleased and happy Jennie standing before her. People wondered why Jennie had started hanging out with the girl that never leaves the art room and always had paint on her clothes, but Jennie never paid them any attention. She never saw Jisoo as less than her and always treated her with kindness and consideration. Jisoo looked up to Jennie, never letting go of the admiration she felt the first time she saw her at the end of the hallway. She was never able to understand how Jennie could do a lot of the things that she would personally consider uncomfortable, like when Jennie performed at the school talent show or when Jennie came to school dressed in a dog costume with a sign that read “DON’T SHOP, ADOPT”, but Jisoo just couldn’t bring herself to turn away. In fact, this only attracted her more to Jennie, viewing her as someone that challenged her confidence and pushed her to do things that would bring her closer to a truer version of herself that she would soon grow fond of. 

She thought about how on the day they skipped school, they wandered around the neighborhood aimlessly for hours, arms linked, until they ended up at this exact park that she was currently sitting in. She started to get butterflies in her stomach recalling the small kiss they shared underneath the slide that was to the right of the swing set. Looking over to the slide, she pictured a young and inexperienced Jisoo getting flustered as Jennie pulled away, their lips losing contact after a few seconds. 

After this happened, the kiss was never brought up. Jennie went about her days acting as if nothing happened and Jisoo didn’t have the courage to mention it. Jisoo figured that the kiss was probably something that happened in the spur of the moment and Jennie didn’t think much of it, so Jisoo tried to convince herself that it was nothing as well. Jisoo would lay awake at night wondering if she was getting ahead of herself, thinking her feelings for Jennie were mutual, but with the way Jennie was avoiding the topic, these thoughts began to fade. A few weeks passed and Jisoo couldn’t stand it anymore, so she took up all the courage that was bottled away, trying not to throw up right then and there, and poured her feelings out to Jennie in the tiny park that sat in the middle of the neighborhood. 

“I don’t know how or when or why this happened, but I just can’t get it out of my mind. When we kissed, I thought that you”, Jisoo took a deep breath, looked up and made eye contact with Jennie, only to look back down before continuing, “maybe, liked me back? But then you never brought up the kiss and then I got confused because I thought you liked me back and I couldn’t take it anymore so that’s why I’m here wasting your time talking about my feelings when I should be at home finishing my painting commission and now I feel stupid because, what was I thinking? There’s no way you would ever like someone like me when there are-”, Jisoo’s rambling was cut off when she felt Jennie tug on her arm, pulling her into a hug.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Jennie consoled Jisoo, as she rested her chin on the latter’s shoulder and stroked her hair, “You’re not stupid, so stop saying that, okay?” Jennie asked as she pulled away from the hug, with her hands placed on the sides of Jisoo’s head. Jisoo nodded and brought her hand up to wipe the tears that escaped from her eyes, also noticing that Jennie’s eyes were glossy.

“Ahhhh, don’t cry! You’re just gonna make me cry!” Jennie exclaimed with a soft frown that suddenly turned into a smile when Jisoo started to cry even more. Jennie pulled Jisoo back into a hug, 

“Wow, imagine if someone just walked by and saw us crying in the middle of this park, they would think one of us was dying,”

“You’re insane,” Jisoo hiccupped as she held on tight to Jennie’s small frame.

“I’m sorry for making you feel this way. I feel awful and if anyone is stupid around here, it’s me! I like you too, but I thought that if I didn’t bring it up, then it would of been less painful when I left for college, but it just made things worse,” Jennie explained quietly as she leaned her head against Jisoo’s, “everything is just happening so fast that I don’t want us to get ahead of ourselves because we probably won’t see each other that much once I leave and I don’t know if I can handle the pain if we start up something now”

“It’s okay, I understand now”

“Are you sure?” Jennie questioned as she leaned back to look at Jisoo’s face, “You’re still crying though!”

“Yeah I’m sure, it’s okay” Jisoo reassured with a soft smile forming under her slightly puffy eyes.

“Are you though?”

“Yes!”

“But-”

“Can you just stop talking for one second so that I can process what just happened?” Jisoo rolled her eyes, while Jennie just smiled back at her, displaying Jisoo’s favorite set of dimples.

By the end of the year, Jennie left for college while Jisoo had to go through another year of highschool. They kept in touch, but gradually, and unsurprisingly, the text notifications came less and less. There wasn’t a big fall out that ended up in them losing contact, this was just something that happened in real life. People move away and friendships fade, but with the news of Jennie moving back into town, Jisoo’s dying hope of reuniting with her suddenly sparked. Holding onto the memories they shared and thinking about the connection they had when they were younger was enough to encourage her to press send on the message that had been sitting in the box of Jennie’s text message screen.

There was still a few more minutes until it was 11:30 P.M., but the anticipation just added to her nervousness. Jisoo was excited, but she worried about whether or not their personalities would still be compatible. She wondered if Jennie wasn’t interested in rekindling and only agreed to meet up so that she could let Jisoo down gently without hurting her feelings. She wondered if Jennie found someone else in her life to inspire and treat with care like she did with her. Jisoo knows it’s stupid to think about this and that she should have faith and trust in the years that they spent together, but she couldn’t help it. Lost in her thoughts, Jisoo didn’t hear the footsteps approaching her from the left of the swing set.

“Hey,” spoke a voice so gentle and faint that Jisoo almost didn’t hear it.

When she looked up, her eyes met with the dark cat-like eyes that were staring back at her. Jennie’s hair was lighter than the last time she saw her, but it was definitely longer in comparison. She was wearing a tan overcoat with a plaid design that had red stripes running along the cloth, complimenting her dark red lipstick. Jisoo couldn’t believe that she was standing just a few feet away from her and it took all of her strength to not run up and tackle her in a giant bear hug. Holding her now cold beverage in her hand, she stood up and suddenly felt her body warm up as Jennie walked towards her.

“Hey,” Jisoo responded, trying to hide the fact that her voice was shaking from the cold wind and from the nervousness rising inside.

It was a silent, yet comfortable, minute of them just standing two feet apart, collecting themselves, hopefully enough to gain the courage to speak up again.

“Is that hot chocolate?” Jennie asked as she glanced down at Jisoo’s hands holding on tightly to the small white cup.

“Yeah, well it was hot,” Jisoo laughed, shaking her head because she spent so much time reminiscing that she didn’t get to finish her drink. She glanced down at Jennie’s hands, which was also grasping onto a small white cup, “You get hot chocolate too?”

“Yeah,” Jennie said and paused for a few seconds before asking, “Whipped cream?” as the ends of her lips slowly curled up into a smile.

“Of course,” Jisoo said, feeling just as warm as she did when she took the first few sips of her hot chocolate thirty minutes ago.

“You know, if you hadn’t contacted me first, I would have done it eventually. I’ve just been so caught up with moving my things in and hanging out with my family that I just didn’t get the chance to yet,” Jennie says as she takes a sip from her white cup, layering another red mark over the previously dried out lip stain.

“Yeah well, when I heard you were moving back, I guess I just got a little excited and had to text you. I’m sorry if I’m bothering you, you know, you didn’t have to come and meet me if you had other important things to do, especially since it’s so late and it’s snowing and we haven’t seen each other in years and you probably have better things to do-” Jisoo suddenly stopped rambling and gasped when she saw Jennie step towards her and wrapped her free arm around her waist.

“You know, i’m happy to see that you haven’t changed one bit. You still ramble like an idiot when you’re nervous,” Jennie smiled, her face just inches away from Jisoo’s.

“Ugh, whatever,” Jisoo mumbles and looks up to the sky to try and hide the fact that her cheeks are warming up. She returns the hug and takes a deep breath as she leans her head against Jennie’s, “I’m glad you showed up.”

Jennie makes a loud, over exaggerated gasp, “I can’t believe you thought I would’ve stood you up! After all we’ve been through? I’m hurt,” which causes them both to burst out in laughter. 

Once they stop laughing, they both start to notice that the snow had stopped falling, which leads both of them to tilt their heads up, admiring the moonlight that shines over the tiny park. Jennie turns to Jisoo, raises her hand to Jisoo’s cheek and softly says, “Maybe we can finally start things up again, I mean if you’re up for it, but if you’re not, that’s fine. If you only wanted to catch up, that’s fine too, I mean you’re still my best friend and I know this could just be a casual meeting and all but I mean if I don’t bring it up now then it might not be brought up ever again and I don’t want that but-” Jennie was cut off when Jisoo’s lip’s suddenly made contact with hers. Jisoo doesn’t know where this courage came from but she could tell that Jennie was caught off guard because she didn’t react to the kiss right away. After a few seconds, Jennie fell into the kiss and Jisoo felt like her insides were burning up. 

Jiso pulled away and laughed, “It’s nice to know I’m not the only one who rambles”

“Ugh, whatever,” Jennie rolled her eyes and wrapped her arm around Jisoo’s waist again, taking in the heat from their body contact.


End file.
